


Leash

by BubbaKnowlton



Series: Evil Space Dads [9]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Dad AU, M/M, Mpreg, Pregnancy complications, a lot of blood, apparently c-sections are really fast??? now you know, child leashes, happy ending tho lmao, medical inaccuracies that i rushed to fix at the end lmao, vague mentions of flappy bird and minecraft apps
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-14
Updated: 2016-09-14
Packaged: 2018-08-15 00:44:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8035633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BubbaKnowlton/pseuds/BubbaKnowlton
Summary: When a complication arises in Hux's labor, it's up to Kylo and their four year old son to help!





	Leash

**Author's Note:**

> YIKES so i wish. i had done research for this in the beginning but nope lol. I did research at the end though which was. good.  
> Also I realized that Carolus probably talks a lot better than a 4 yr. old preemie kid should and my excuse is that he spends pretty much 24/7 with Hux, who loves the sound of his own voice and talks to Carolus pretty much nonstop as if he is an adult. Or Hux sticks him in front of 'educational television' which includes the History Channel and National Geographic exclusively, or reads him books (mostly nonfiction college level books lmao).  
> i wrote the start of this a long time ago because i decided one day 'I want Hux to suffer' and look where we are now.

**Leash**

"Papa...? Are you OK?" His son stared at him with frightened eyes through his thick glasses. Hux tried to answer, but a contraction took his breath away and he groaned. He checked his watch so he could time it. Carolus nervously scratched at his own fingers, biting his lower lip. His voice became anxious, "Um... A-are you dying? I- I don't want you to die..."

 _Fuck_ , he couldn't give a response over the pain, and focused on trying to breathe again. Carolus seemed to take it as a yes, because tears welled up in his eyes. He was too scared to touch Hux, but he clearly wanted to cling to him. He finally settled for stepping a bit closer to his father after two minutes of shifting, but not touching. "Pl-please don't die!"

Hux couldn't remember Carolus' labor being this painful. At least he'd been able to walk and talk then. Which he'd been grateful for at the time, since Carolus had came almost three months early and Kylo had been freaking out. The pain definitely wasn't as bad as it was now, or else he wouldn't have been able to stomp out to the car and yell at Kylo to get his shit together and take him to the hospital. The pain only seemed to intensify instead of reaching a peak. Was something going wrong? Hux could feel blood seeping out between his legs, even though his water had broken earlier. Something _had_ to be going wrong, then.

For a moment he cursed himself for being unable to actually bear children correctly. Carolus had been premature, and now this one was having complications. If he couldn't get to a hospital he might end up bleeding out on his kitchen floor in front of his almost five year old son. Carolus' fear that he was dying just might have been correct.

The contraction continued for far too long. He recalled reading that they were only supposed to last 30-60 seconds, this one was lasting around three minutes already if he had the time on his watch correct. He finally managed to steady his breathing enough to tell his son, "G-go get a phone... call your dad." Having his crying son call an ambulance wouldn't work, Carolus wouldn't be able to tell the emergency dispatch operator what was going on. Kylo might be able to make sense of the ramble the boy was bound to go on. If he answered. There _was_ the chance that Kylo was busy or had broken his phone again.

Carolus nodded and darted off. As he waited for the boy to come back, the contraction finally started to ease up. Hux panted, and looked over his swollen stomach to see that a puddle of blood had formed between his legs, big enough that he could clearly see it. It wasn't all the fluids that came out when his water broke, just blood. "F-fuck..." Had he really lost that much? He was going to pass out soon if it didn't stop.

The puddle slowly increased. Carolus finally came back holding Hux's cellphone. He held it and looked at Hux, unsure of what to do, sniffling. "H-how do I call Dad?" Right, a four year old wouldn't be able to memorize a number he had never been told. Hux gestured for Carolus to step closer. Carolus held out the phone to him and Hux dialed the number, feeling faint as he did so. His hand trembled as he hit the call button. 

"T-tell him... to get home..." 

Carolus gave another nod and watched the screen. As soon as Kylo picked up Carolus lifted the phone to his ear. "Dad?"

" _Hey 'Lus, what's u-_ "

"Papa's hurt and he fell down and he's not getting up and I think he's dying and there's blood everywhere-" Carolus' voice came out high pitched and fast. "-I dunno what to do and he wants you to come home and I'm scared I don't want him to die-" He stopped as Hux groaned, a new contraction starting. "Papa?" Carolus' eyes widened as Hux slumped over, finally drifting into unconsciousness. "P-Papa?" Seeing his parent wasn't responding he worked up the nerve to try and shake Hux's shoulder. "Papa! Wake up! Wake up! Don't die!"

" _Carolus what's going on?_ "

"Papa's not waking up I don't know what to do I don't know what to do I don't know-"

" _I'm coming home, don't worry! Stay with him, ok?_ "

-

Kylo was pretty sure he broke the speed limit the whole ride home, and was grateful he hadn't been pulled over. He was also grateful that Snoke had let him leave work early when he'd stammered that there was an emergency at home and he needed to _go_. As soon as he stepped into the house he shouted, "Carolus?!"

"K-kitchen!!" The boy's voice was shaky, obviously crying. Kylo rushed into the kitchen and paled at the sight of Hux passed out on the floor, leaning against the wall, blood under him. Carolus had tucked himself underneath Hux's arm, visibly sobbing.

"Holy shit..." He forced down the panic that tried to burst up. "Carolus, go put your shoes on, we're going to take him to the hospital, okay?"

Nodding, the boy pulled himself out from under Hux's arm and darted off. Kylo swallowed before crouching down to pick up his husband. Cradling Hux close to his chest, he turned and headed towards the door. Hux looked terribly pale, and Kylo could feel blood soaking into his sleeve. Carolus was standing at the door, sandals slipped on, trembling. Tears were streaming down his face. Kylo wanted to comfort him but he honestly wasn't sure himself if Hux was going to be alright.

"Come on."

-

 _When_ Hux woke up and came back home, he was definitely going to be disgusted with the fact that the car was now dirty, the seats already bloodstained. Hux had been wearing tan pants so the red was jarring. Kylo had set Hux down gently, and buckled him in. He opened the door for Carolus and shut it as soon as the boy had climbed in.

He went to the front seat and was glad he hadn't shut off the car nor pulled in the driveway, since he could immediately start driving as soon as he strapped in. "Can you buckle yourself, 'Lus?"

"S-sure!"

The ride was possibly the most terrifying Kylo had ever been on. Previously, the drive when Hux went into labor with Carolus had held that spot, since he'd been absolutely panicked. But at least Hux had not been dying from blood loss, and had been conscious, very much so. It would be comforting to have Hux yelling at him like then. All he could hear now was the sound of the car, his pounding heartbeat, and Carolus sobbing in the backseat.

He, again, drove over the speed limit the whole time, until they pulled into the hospital parking lot. He remembered where to go from last time, and soon enough they were ready to get out. Kylo got out and popped open Carolus' door before getting Hux out of the car. 

Carolus closed his own door while Kylo just nudged Hux's door shut. "Keep up, 'Lus." He didn't even look as he headed to the hospital doors. Carolus ran after him.

-

Reaching the hospital doors, Kylo pushed it open with his shoulder, and felt Carolus' hand grab at his leg. He had to let go as Kylo rushed to the front desk. 

"How may I- oh goodness."

"There's something wrong, he's lost a ton of blood and passed out at home- he needs an emergency c-section-"

"I'll call a doctor right away, sir." They dialed a number on the phone and while waiting for the other end to pick up they asked, "Does he use any medications or have allergies to medications?"

"No."

"Any recent illnesses?"

"No."

The other end picked up, and soon enough Kylo was putting Hux on a stretcher, similar to last time, only now he was told to stay in the waiting room. He wanted to protest but knew it would be useless, so he went and sat down. Carolus climbed onto his lap, so Kylo busied himself calming the boy down. 

He finally noticed that Carolus had something strapped to his back the same time an older woman across from him did. She mentioned it first.

"You make your child wear a leash?"

When Carolus had just started learning how to walk, Phasma had bought a child leash for him with a black helmet plush on the back of it. She had thought it hilarious, but none of them had expected Carolus to get _so attached_ to it. Hux had used it when he couldn't carry Carolus comfortably with his swollen belly anymore, and since Carolus didn't have the strongest legs, it was good to make sure he wasn't getting left behind. It was kept in the car.

Looking at his son, he could see Carolus had strapped it on himself. He supposed that would warrant the thing useless, if the child could just take it off, but Carolus hated _taking_ it off.

"Lus, why do you have that?"

"S-she's my friend..." He sniffled. Kylo wasn't sure why his son had decided that the helmet was female, maybe because Phasma had given it to him? Or maybe she had called it a girl's helmet? It looked like it was from a videogame, so maybe the character that wore it in game was a lady.

"Why did you put it on?"

"She makes me feel safe..." Carolus hooked his thumbs under the straps. Kylo rubbed his head. Carolus curled up on him.

The lady across from them wasn't sated by Carolus' explanation for the leash. "He's a person, you can't keep him on a leash like a dog."

"My partner is unable to carry him when they go out to the store, so the leash keeps him close by and safe. I also didn't put it on him, he did it himself. It's his comfort object."

"A _leash_."

"I think it's more this thing he's comforted by." He tapped the plush helmet. One of the soft spikes tilted under his finger. "It doesn't matter, anyways, he's not your kid."

"What is that thing supposed to be? It looks positively demonic."

"It's a helmet. From some game. I don't know, it was a gift from a friend. A joke. Why do you even care? Leave my son alone."

Carolus suddenly sat up. "Daaad, I got blood all over me." His arm was stained red from where he'd been leaning against Kylo.

"Oh, fuck-" Kylo pulled off his ruined jacket. "Sorry, 'Lus- shit, let's find a bathroom and wash that off." He left his jacket on the seat and lifted up Carolus.

-

Once his son was devoid of blood stains, Kylo brought him back out to the waiting room. He gave Carolus his phone to keep him entertained, putting in earbuds and a playlist on the background so he wouldn't be bothered. Heavy metal and rock mixed with the sounds of some jumping game with a bird were an interesting mix.

The tune of Carolus' little bird dying every other second was kind of annoying, though. Eventually Carolus gave up with that game and went to a different one. Kylo wasn't even sure when he'd downloaded some version of Minecraft onto his phone, but Carolus seemed intent on digging to the center of the block-earth and he was forced to listen to the repetitive sound of the player digging through many songs.

Carolus got bored of digging when he discovered that there was a limit to how far he could go, and went back up. Sweet relief from the noises until Carolus then decided to start cutting down all the cubic trees in the world he'd generated in.

There were so many trees.

His extensive playlist repeated itself and Carolus was still going. Kylo figured he got his intense focus from Hux, since he would have cut down three and called it quits. Thinking about Hux got his worry sparking again and he wondered when a doctor would come out to say how he was doing. How long did a c-section take, anyways? 

Eventually he got sick of his playlist and took the phone momentarily to switch it to a different one, and then it was back to loud guitars and the sound of a sickle swishing into pixels.

Carolus fell asleep in his lap after a long while, and Kylo looked through the pixel world. There was only a few trees left, which was kind of impressive. He pocketed his phone, keeping his earbuds in.

 _Finally_ a doctor approached them, looking a bit nervous. He pulled out his earbuds.

"How's Hux?"

"Perfectly fine. The procedure went smoothly and he was given a blood transfusion. We'd been keeping him unconscious until his blood pressure is normal, he should wake up within the next hour."

"And the baby?"

"Also fine, surprisingly. We would have come out sooner but we didn't realize you were here. The surgery ended a long time ago. It only took a few minutes to perform. You can come see them."

-

Hux looked pale but definitely a lot better. Kylo put Carolus down on the bed beside him, telling him to be gentle and not touch his belly. 

"Papa's not big anymore!" The boy announced in surprise.

"He had the baby."

"Oh. Where is it?"

"A nurse'll bring it in soon."

"How'd the baby come out?"

Damn it, he'd thought Hux had explained everything. That had been his job. He was pretty sure Hux had explained how it'd gotten _in_.

Hopefully the kids would never put two and two together as to why their birthdays were a specific number of months after he and Hux's anniversaries. Carolus' wasn't as obvious since he came early, but this one was just a few days shy of exactly nine months.

"The doctors had to cut it out. They made a slice in Papa's tummy and pulled the baby out."

Hopefully that would sate his son's curiosity. Carolus tugged a bit at the hospital gown. "Feels like paper. Did I get cut out too?"

It didn't. Kylo was thrust back into the memory of his son's birth. The doctors had wanted to give a c-section, but Hux was already pushing by the time they got to the hospital. "No, you came out a different way. Papa had to push you out."

"From where?"

Hux would be laughing his ass off if he was awake. Kylo sighed. "The same way it got in."

"That's not a very good answer, Dad."

"I'm not ready to teach you the birds and the bees."

Carolus just looked confused. "What do birds have to do with babies? Papa's not a bird. Or a bee."

"I'll explain when we get home."

"Ok."

-

A nurse brought the baby in, informing them it was a girl, healthy, and eight pounds. She was bigger than Carolus had been, much heavier. Kylo took her from the nurse and turned to let Carolus look at his new sister.

"The baby's really little! Was I that little?"

"You were even smaller."

"Really? Wow!" Then he hesitated. "Can I hold the baby?"

"Oh, yeah- be careful." Carolus sat up, and Kylo helped him hold the baby properly despite her wiggling. The boy looked absolutely fascinated with her. After a few minutes she fell asleep, so Carolus stayed quiet for her.

-

After sending Phasma about twenty pictures on his phone with various captions ranging from a mix of emojis, something along the line of 'my kids are the cutest kids in the galaxy', or just long strings of 'aaahhhhh', Carolus finally spoke again. "What's the baby's name?"

"We haven't named her yet."

"I know. What should it be, then?"

"We should wait for your papa to wake up before we decide anything."

"Can we name her something that sounds like my name?"

"...Yes."

-

When Hux woke up, he found himself immediately being smothered, and groaned. His whole body felt heavy and numb.

"Hux, you're awake!"

"Yeah... What happened?"

"We took you to the hospital and you got a c-section."

"The baby?"

"Right here!" Kylo slowly handed her to Hux. "We uh... named her Caroline."

"It sounds like my name!" Carolus chimed happily, grinning.

"Of course you named our child without me _again_."

"You loved the name Carolus and you love the name Caroline, don't you?"

Hux reluctantly nodded.

**Author's Note:**

> Excerpt from Kylo and Phasma's texting  
> Kylo: (image) these are the cutest kids in the history of the earth??? no other children can compare  
> Phasma: (image) here's a baby photo of Hux I stole from his dad's house  
> Kylo: BLOCKED  
> Phasma: lmao
> 
> Follow/talk to me on Tumblr! @Oblioknowlton


End file.
